What Tennessee's Josh Heupel said on Monday about Arkansas, the bye week

What Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said during his weekly press conference on Monday, looking back at the bye week and previewing his 12th-ranked Vols (4-1, 1-1 SEC) against Arkansas (2-3, 0-1) on Saturday (4:15 p.m. Eastern Time, SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium:

Opening Statement

“Champions weekend. We got some of our former teams getting recognized. Former players back here, looking forward to seeing them. And a chance for us to recognize and honor Coach Dickey as well. So it would be great to have him back and his family. 

“For us, I think this is the only home game that we have here this month inside of our stadium. So hopefully our fans are rested, juicy and ready to go. We need them to be a big part of this game as we get ready to play Saturday afternoon.

“Playing Arkansas, football team that obviously has had some changes with their staff, but it’s a really good football team too. I know the outcome against Notre Dame certainly wasn’t what they wanted, but you look a couple of weeks previously, they were in a one possession game, with four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, against Ole Miss football team that’s a really good football team too. So defensively, huge task in front of us with their quarterback, he’s playing extremely efficient and creating big plays in the pass game but obviously has a chance to be a huge part of the run game as well. We got to do a great job of bottling him up during the course of the afternoon and defensively with changes they’ve made. You don’t know exactly what you’re going to see. The success that they had in their three down, three safety stuff from last year, we got to be prepared for. And that’s kind of where we’re pointing our emphasis and then react to whatever else we see and be able to adjust during the course of the football games.”

Deep diving Arkansas staff, who is responsible for that

“You’re looking at everybody that they have, the changes that they’ve made, the history of what they’ve done, and it’s everybody on our staff taking a look at it.” 

If it’s possible to worry about that too much or is all research good

“Well, I think that it all matters. This is a unique situation, so you prepare for what’s on the tape, and you prepare for what potential unknowns could be as well. But you also understand that it’s not going to be exact replicas of anything that you’ve seen on tape as well in this situation. So communication from staff and players will be really critical in this one.”

If he felt like young players took steps towards earning his trust during the open date

“Yeah, the days we had on the grass, they get an opportunity to go play and compete. Again, that’s fundamentals and then the scope of your team stuff and some of that’s practice squad looks. Some of it’s good on and good. So as a whole, we continue to get better through the course of the week. We have the right mindset when you’re in the building, practice, weight room, what’s important now, be dialed in and I think they handled that well. End of the week, coaches get on the road recruiting and they get a little bit more time off. Which they need physically and mentally. When you get this opportunity and have good energy and focus today as we got on started back.”

If David Sanders will start this week

“David’s cleared to play. … I’m not ready to say anything on that, but David’s going to play. We’re going to need all those guys.”

Which of the three phases they’re most focused on this week as they prepare for Arkansas

“You’re practicing and want to see it in all areas. Defensively, as much as anything it’s communication. Fundamentally there are some things that we missed as far as tackling a week ago. Offensively all 11 being tied in together, some of the details in the pass game, and some of the run game too. And special teams alignment, assignment and communication.”

Emphasis on containing Arkansas QB Taylen Green’s legs

“You got to play gap sound. You got to get off the blocks. He’s dynamic. He’s got great long speed. You got to be able to tackle him. So in the different structures that we’re playing, our gap integrity is going to be important. When they’re dropping back and rolling, you can’t just sit back and pat the ball either. You got to apply pressure. But you got to have great lane integrity as you’re doing that. So those will all be points that will be really important for us defensively.”

If Jermod McCoy has hit any more benchmarks in being ready to return from injury

“Jermod continues to do a great job in his rehab with our medical staff, our strength staff. Somebody told me there was a report out there of a certain ball game that he’s focused in on as far as returning. I think that’s unfair. Whoever put that out there, I don’t think truly understands Jermod and the situation. He’s done a really good job. He’s got more to go. I think it’s all about him being prepared to go play. There’s a lot of things that go into that. You look at the position he plays, all the reactionary work that you have to have in so your always balancing his ability to be prepared and short-term, long-term health as well.”

If there’s as much parity in college football as there seems to be

“Look, I think there is a bunch of parity. It’s tough to go win on the road. I think some of the changes over the last three, four years inside of the landscape of college football have allowed there to be more parity as well. And people can patch their roster. There’s no glaring deficiencies. And so it’s tough to go win. You gotta be at your best and the margins are really small.”

Traits of typical Bobby Petrino-coached teams

“Bobby’s done it at a really high level for a really long time. He’s done it inside the scope of this league. It’s a good football team. I said that at the very beginning of this press conference. They’ve played well. They’ve maybe been on the wrong side of the scoreboard here a little bit, but it’s a really good football team. And I think for everybody inside of our program, you understand that we’re going to get their best and their best is really good so we got to get prepared and go play really good football.”

Braylon Staley stepping up in the slot

“I think that part of the football field, working in the middle of the football field, all the things that we asked of that guy (in the slot), had great trust in him because of what he did all of last year. And I say that just in how we continue to grow and practice and get we to the playoffs and he’s playing a bunch of football. It’s one of the things that I’ve shown some of the guys on our roster is continuing to prepare and get ready for your opportunity and be ready to hit it and mouth them when you get it. Great leader that’s continuing to grow in that role. Great work habits. Really smart football player. Understands defensive structures, the game, concepts at a really high level and has the ability to make plays.”

Tennessee’s mental reset and work off the field during the bye week

“You get a chance, coaches and players together, look at what you’ve done up until this point, areas of growth that you need to have happen. That’s individually as a player and collectively as a football team. So you continue to work and compete and the mental break, I think is real in the game. We look at how long these guys have been going since the beginning of August. And so it’s an opportunity to kind of take a deep breath and enjoy a day off and then get back to work.”

Joey Aguilar working on his footwork, if it’s leading to some high throws

“There’s a lot of details that go into playing that position at a really high level. Helping protection out when it’s time to climb into the pocket, being at the right depth, and then fundamentally being consistent in the right place to be as accurate as possible. So absolutely.”